Science funds come up short for 2007

Jan 08, 2007

After Congress failed to pass new budgets for the current fiscal year, scientific institutions across the United States could suffer setbacks.

The New York Times reported the financial crisis could close several major facilities, delay new projects and force thousands out of work.

Scientists say the areas most affected will likely be physics, chemistry and astronomy. Biology, on the other hand, seems to fare far better, with more than $28 billion annually going towards biomedical programs, the Times reported.

Facilities affected by the budget freeze include Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California.

"The consequences for American science will be disastrous," said Michael S. Lubell, a senior official of the American Physical Society, the world's largest group of physicists. "The message to young scientists and industry leaders, alike, will be, 'Look outside the U.S. if you want to succeed.'"

Related Stories

After much litigation, public demonstration and deliberation, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3 to 2 to adopt open internet rules. While the substantive details of the decision are not yet known, the rules ...

A total of 1.6 billion people worldwide – nearly a quarter of the global population – are forced to pay bribes to gain access to everyday public services, according to a new book by academics at the Universities of Birmingham ...

For the first time researchers have directly measured a general law of how pedestrians interact in a crowd. This law can be used to create realistic crowds in virtual reality games and to make public spaces safer.

A team of Cornell University researchers focusing on a fictional zombie outbreak as an approach to disease modeling suggests heading for the hills, in the Rockies, to save your 'braains' from the 'undead.'

Oats are often touted for boosting heart health, but scientists warn that the grain and its products might need closer monitoring for potential mold contamination. They report in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that s ...

When warm air comes into contact with a cool surface and chills to saturation, fog materializes. It blankets open roads and runways and dramatically reduces visibility—often causing devastating accidents.

Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities says American archeologists have discovered a 3000-year-old tomb with beautifully painted walls belonging to a nobleman who guarded the temple of the ancient deity Amun.

A partial human skull unearthed in 2008 in northern Israel may hold some clues as to when and where humans and Neanderthals might have interbred. The key to addressing this, as well as other important issues, ...